Synchronizing External Audio track with HD Movie

Question

Synchronizing External Audio track with HD Movie

I have several HD recordings taken on a Nikon D5100. While taking those recordings I had a Tascam D40 digital audio recorder connected to the external mic input on the Nikon D5100 which allowed the audio track to be recorded in the Nikon D5100 and on the Tascam simultaneously. I discovered that even with the mic sensitivity on the Nikon D5100 set to the lowest level I still hear "crackling" in the audio on the D5100 (also heard this when recording without the Tascam D40 connected to the D5100).

The Tascam D40 audio however sounds great with No Crackling.

Objective: Use the Tascam D40 audio track instead of the Nikon D5100 track in my iMovie

Is there a way to import a second audio track into iMovie?
Is there a way to synchronize (in time) the audio track in [1] with the default audio track imported with my HD video?
Can I replace the default audio track with the Tascam D40 digital audio track?

thanks!!!

iPhone 4, iOS 5, Wanted to select Product iPhone 4S

Posted on Jun 9, 2013 7:00 AM

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Answer 1

Jun 9, 2013 7:47 AM in response to Robert Stephens

You can easily import any sound into an iMovie project. Simply drag it into the movie where you want it to play. If you drag the sound file behind You can then mute your other video. However, I have no knowledge of any method for synchronizing the sound other than playing with the starting location of the sound until they match up.

What extension does the sound file have?

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Answer 2

Jun 9, 2013 2:38 PM in response to Robert Stephens

In iMovie, there is no automated way to synchronize, but you can manually synchronize to the nearest 1/30th of a second for NTSC. ((1/25) of a second for PAL)

To synchronize manually, I suggest setting the thumbnail slider to 1/2 second. Turn on Audio Waveforms. It can be helpful to make a loud noise to synchronize - like the old time movie clapper boards. When you add the second audio track, keep your camera track turned on until you synchonize. That way, you can use both visual and audio cues to synchronize.

With the TASCAM, you will get best results if you set the recording to AIFF or WAV at 48kHZ.

Your camera (and most camcorders) record at 48kHZ. 44.1kHZ may work, but it will be harder synchronize and may drift out of synch on a longer passage.

Once you synchronize, see this post for how to edit the music track.

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-5241

Also, if you do a lot of this, get Final Cut Pro X. It will sync through an automated process. Also, you can adjust the sync to 1/100 of a second. You can also synch multiple cameras and multiple audio sources - all automated. It is also easy to edit multiple tracks.

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Answer 3

Jun 9, 2013 2:50 PM in response to AppleMan1958

Also, see this post for more ideas about doing this in iMovie.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3035129?answerId=15125013022#15125013022

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